


The Return of the Snake

by Tezca



Series: The Interim Adventures of Five and Shooter [1]
Category: Country Music RPF, Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Doctor Who Fusion, Car Chase, Gen, Healing Coma, Light Angst, No one asked for it but you're welcome for the mental image of Dierks Bentley in Five's coat, Some Humor, Time Lord Angst, alien!luke, alternative universe, possessed!Five, possessed!Shooter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 22:53:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15828588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tezca/pseuds/Tezca
Summary: A reappearance of an old foe on Earth does not bode well for either the Sixth Doctor and the Colonel.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I put this as the start of a series that I thought of while writing. I figured it would be interesting to write fics of Shooter and Five out exploring time and space together during the time Shooter was with him towards the end of this fic.

“I will kindly ask again to not refer to me as Tonatiuh Peri!” Six stated in his usual bombastic, slightly scandalized tone as he looked at her. The short hair American brunette was right behind him in a fit of light laughter as they walked into the Tardis. See they had just finished what was supposed to be a relaxation and historical type trip to the time of the Aztecs in Mexico, but of course, them being the Doctor and his companion/girlfriend, trouble of some kind always followed them. Luckily this time it wasn’t the usual monster or alien, or anything they’ve encountered ad nauseam. The sort of trouble was also the cause of Peri’s temporary propensity to rile up the Doctor a bit in the present time.

That is to say mistaken identity. Due to his height (might as well have been the tallest in the city of Tenochtitlan)and curly blond hair, more than enough people in the city of Tenochtitlan had mistaken him for an Aztec god, hence the name Tonatiuh. To be fair it wasn’t like it was a worriedly amount of people, but he wasn’t in the mood to have exactly 12, yes 12 he counted, 12 adults mistook him for the Aztec sun god. Any children that did it, however, he let it go cause they were of course children, and as far as he was concerned, one would have to be truly heartless(or double heartless in his case) to be an asshole to children.

Six paused for a brief second after he pulled the lever to close the door, he twirled back around to face Peri. “And on the same note just as a reminder don’t call me Doc.”

“Oh I know, Tonatiuh.” Peri mischievously replied with a smile as she was sent into another round of giggles. 

“Perpugilliam!” Six shouted and sent a glare her way. He wasn’t that serious to be frankly honest. It was just he was still in an annoyed mood over the whole thing. He had mostly expected the trip to be relatively trouble free and not be in the middle of some huge problem for once in their recent memory. Also, he had been with Peri long enough to know when she tried to playfully rile him up, “It’s bad enough that they were members of the highest ruling class of the Mexica. You think an intellectual elite fit to help run an empire no matter the time or place would know better!”

Peri giggled some more as he finished the harangue and put on an apologetic face, “Sorry Doctor, but you have to admit it was funny.” Peri laughed lightly more to herself now.

Six thought for a moment on the truth of her words, “I suppose it will be one of those things we’ll look back in the future and take in stride.” He conceded just as the distress signal suddenly went off. That was also unexpected and it killed off the mood for Peri as her laughter quickly dissipated into worry. The two stood there momentarily frozen before Six immediately ran around the console to the screen to take a look at the message. His face gravely fell as he read, “Oh dear, this is bad.”

Peri felt more alarmed now, “What? What is it Doctor? Who sent the signal?”

“It's from the Colonel, he needs our help Peri. Unfortunately, the Mara had decided to make an appearance in 21st century Earth!” Six started to explain as he began to run around the console to set up the coordinates, “Specifically in a very rural town in the state known as Kentucky.”

The Tardis started to dematerialize as Peri spoke up confused and alarmed, “What is the Mara?”

“A dreadful beast, a snake that dwells in the deepest recess of your mind that needs a host before it can make itself known in the real world. It causes a person to truly be vile and chaotically evil. Do things they’ll never do in the first place, say things they would never say. I remember being possessed by it once,” Six shuddered at the memory, Peri looked a little confused but she didn’t need to press it after all, “It was when I was my Fifth self.” 

“That sounds terrifying.”

“It is Peri. And unfortunately it snared his friend Shooter in its grasp and...” Six paused as he had to double check the message, a good part of him wanted to have only imagined some of it, “My Fifth self. Again.”

“Oh no.” Peri can tell that didn’t sound too good. If she remembered correctly from the whole Spain adventure, if an incarnation gets affected with a generic change then all incarnations after would eventually get affected as well. By Six’s reaction, she assumed she can safely apply that to possession.

“Oh no? Just a simple oh no, really? It is much more than a measly oh no Peri! This is bad! I’m in my Sixth incarnation which means heaven only knows when I’ll be affected by the Mara and I certainly do not wish to put you or anyone else in harm's way!” Six lamented as he paced around then whirled around to face Peri, the Tardis meanwhile landed at the destination. He was really worried now, more worried for the Colonel and his girlfriend than himself to be honest, though a possessed Time Lord is never a good thing. He took off his coat and rolled up both his sleeves. Still bare. Six let out a bittersweet sigh of relief, “Luckily you can easily tell who been possessed by way of a snake tattoo on their arm. I don’t have it. Yet anyways, so I’m still myself, but it also means Five must’ve gotten possessed very recently.” Six finished his explanation as he opened the doors and beckoned Peri to follow him out.

The two stepped out into the cool but comfortable air, Six forgo his technicolor coat so he could keep an eye on his arms. Any small signs of the tattoo meant he’ll have to hightail it back to the ,Tardis and lock himself in a room, “Doctor do you know exactly where in Kentucky we’re at?”

“No, I was kinda hoping you did. Didn’t you have relatives living in the mountains?” Six had on a confused tone as he looked at Peri.

“That was in Tennessee Doctor.” Peri said as she looked around. They appeared to have landed just outside a dilapidated building in what appeared to be a small town in the Appalachian mountains, “Looks more like a ghost town.”

“Oh right.” Six was a little embarrassed but made no attempts to show it, he knew she had an aunt and uncle who lived in a rural town, but clearly he forgot exactly which part of said Appalachian mountains. 

They walked down the sidewalk, there was evidence that people lived here, stores open with customers and a car parked here and there. But that was also it, the number of cars in general and the fact there seemed to be very few people out and about gave the impression it’s freshly abandoned or about to be. 

Six was curious enough to ask so he walked into an open store where a middle-aged woman, with just as many curls as he had, was behind the counter. The chime of the door alerted her to a rare customer on an early Sunday, “Excuse me miss I hope it is fine if I acquire an answer or two. I’m the Doctor and this is Peri.” He greeted as he and Peri walked up.

“Oh not at all hon! Wow don't you look handsome there? I bet you got a girlfriend with how cute you look! You’re quite a catch.” The women complimented as she walked around and took a look at Six. He was taken a bit off guard at her forwardness, It wasn’t very often that outside of Peri, other folk took to a positive reaction over how he looked. Six put an arm around Peri and smiled (thought his ego got a bit of a stroke), “Well ma’am luckily I’ve already been caught by this master of all fisherman so to speak.” Six briefly looked at Peri then at the woman, “We come to seek out as to where exactly are we? We failed to catch the sign.” A little white lie won’t hurt that much and plus he didn’t want to induce unneeded panic.

“And where is everybody? No offense but this place-”

The woman cut her off with an understandable expression, “Looks like a ghost town? We all know that already so don’t worry, no offense is taken. Y’all in Bonhomme. This little rundown town only got about 124 people and most of the folk are at either one of the two churches and the rest are at home or at work here.”

Six nodded and gave a friendly smile, “Thank you. Have a lovely day ma’am.”

“Anytime, y’all have one too!” 

Six led Peri out of the store and relaxed his arm down just as a familiar face (this time in a cowboy hat and a lion pendant necklace along with one of his usual dress shirt and vest outfits) barreled down the sidewalk towards them. He would’ve just about plowed Six down if the latter hadn’t caught him by the shoulders, “Thank god y’all came fast, it’s quickly becoming too big for me to handle!” He noted their old friend sounded distraught and unsure of things as he rambled on.

“Stay calm boy, everything will be alright. Take a deep breath and tell me everything that happened before we came.” Six calmly instructed. Sure he may look outwardly calmer and in control of the situation, but inside he too was just as worried. If only he had an idea of how long he has before the Mara infected him. 

“Well it all started when me and Shooter were taking a day trip around here when we ran into your fifth self. He wanted help investigating some alien activities so we obliged.”

“Was the alien in question the Mara?”

“Yeah, he heard rumors that someone might have brought it here to Earth. He thought it was more on the side of bullshit but he wanted to make sure.”

“That sounds like a good idea based on what little I’ve already been told about it.” Peri interjected.

“It is. Anyways it wasn’t long before I noticed something was seriously off. Your fifth self had the mark of the Mara on his arm, but I noticed it too late to protect Shooter,.” The Colonel explained, he felt like he let him down miserably, “He got possessed just as we were about to say our goodbyes. They shook hands and that’s when I saw it on Five, it got transferred and that’s when I ran like hell to my Tardis.”

“How long ago was this?” Six asked.

“About 20 minutes ago.”  
________________________

Somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, a car traveled down a lonely deserted road. Said nowhere was Kansas at the moment and the occupants were two country singers. Both had short hair, Luke was the one with dark brown and Dierks was the other with light brown/blond hair with the beginnings of a beard to boot, but only one human, Luke happened to be an alien born on Earth in a little underground colony out in the Mojave Desert. His parents were part of a small but strong group of crystalline-based aliens sent over to Earth from the Andromeda galaxy to take it over, but they nixed the plan early on before Luke and his twin sister was born 6000 years ago. Apparently they thought the invasion plan was done too many times in general, and frankly, the collective consensus among them was they wanted to do their own thing.

“Are you serious?” Dierks asked as he faced Luke, some old Hank Jr music played in the background, “I mean 6000 years and you never had anyone else you thought about making immortal?”

“I am serious. Ok maybe once or twice there was someone in the past I thought about bringing it up, but for one reason or another I never did.”

“Different times back then?” Dierks guessed. He was flattered that one of his best friends would think to ask what was basically they want me to help you expand your lifetime so we can stay being buddies longer? 

“That was part of it yeah. And it’s not exactly immortal per say, you’ll live around the same amount of time as us give or take a thousand. Nothing last forever you know.”

“Right.” Dierks agreed. They sat in silence for a few minutes as the green fields whooshed past them. The scenery seemed to never end outside.

“You don’t have to take it up, it’s a big thing to think about and I don’t want you to feel like its forced or anything.”

“No, no it’s fine Luke, I do appreciate the offer. If I lived longer than I can make music longer. Plus be able to hang around one of my best buds.” Dierks smiled.

“Yeah, but the downside is watching everyone else that you love and care about die over time.” Luke pointed out.

Dierks felt like it was one of those things that deserve more than a days thought on it, but his mind was already on a sure answer, “I think I want to say yes, I mean I don’t really have anyone to call my significant other or to call my kids. Didn’t you say once that it was forbidden to give out immortality though? I hate for you to get in trouble.”

Luke shook his head, “My sister vowed to abolish the rule here the moment she was in charged after she met a nice hot thing from Ancient Greece.”

Dierks laughed, well there was his answer right there. Luke told him before that his sister was now and still is in charge of the underground former base. Luke continued as he kept his gaze on the road, “All we have to do is make a trip down there and ask since they have the have the special crystals to do this with.”

“Cool.” 

They both sat there and listened to the music for the next 5 minutes. Back to the same monotony until they reached the destination of the next stop in their little break from their careers roadtrip. Dierks looked out the window aimlessly until he saw a billboard that advertised a new religious cult. Something Mara or another.

“There’s the most exciting thing we’ll see all day.” Dierks let out a sarcastic laugh as he looked at the big billboard sign by the side of the road. He didn’t really pay no mind to it until suddenly he felt the car slow down off of a sudden and put in reverse.

Dierks looked at Luke confused as he stopped the car in front of the sign, “That ain’t good. At least if it is what I’m thinking it is.”

“What do you mean?” Dierks was confused.

“There’s something called the Mara out in space that can take over someone’s mind and cause chaos. If there is one other thing that I know for sure about them, it's they can’t possess inorganic beings.”

The two started at the sign for several seconds longer in silence before Dierks spoke up with a suggestion, “It could be one of those crazy on the fringe religious cults that happen to have the same name.”

“Could be, but let’s check it out. You could be right or a space snake somehow landed on Earth.” Luke said as he pushed the gas pedal and headed for the exit that was listed on the billboard.

Once they turned onto a road about a mile later, it was another five miles before they were met with a gate with a snake-based design at the top. There was a poster on the wall on the side whose purpose was to entice anyone who came to come in further with promises of enlightenment and the betterment of one’s life if they join the Mara religion.

“Looks like the usual run of the mill religious propaganda.” Dierks commented. Luke parked the car nearby on the side of the road and the two walked up to take a closer look at the poster.

“It is. Obviously very convincing.” Luke rolled his eyes with a laugh, Dierks chuckled and took a look at the wall on either side of the gate. The wall stretched out a good amount into the horizon. As they came in a bit ago, they noticed that it looked like an enclosed compound. A small, but good sized one.

Dierks went over to try the gate as Luke took off his sandals and stepped barefoot on the ground, “It's locked. Wait a sec Luke how are we going to investigate without being caught.” He went back over to Luke who had his eyes closed and in concentration. That was another thing besides light manipulation to shapeshift that Luke’s people can do, sense locations and where things and people are via the earth.

A second later Luke broke concentration and looked at Dierks with a worried demeanor, “There’s a Tardis in the middle.”

_________________________

Six walked back and forth in front of them in the park as they took a moment to rest and eat takeout lunch from a nearby mom and pop restaurant. The blond time lord lamented loud enough that if anyone was near than they would definitely hear him, “Oh this is no use, we practically searched everywhere and still no signs of Shooter and celery boy.” He stopped for a moment to check his arms before he relegated to sit between Peri and the Colonel on the wooden bench, “Nary a clue as to where they even have gone.” 

Yeah, they could’ve gone and checked if Five’s Tardis was even still in the same area where the Colonel and Shooter ran into him, but Six insisted they check the town first and see if anything of the chaotic sort went on. And if there were then the two most likely will be in the center of it all.

“This does not bode well. I could get possessed at any moment!” 

The Colonel finished eating his lunch and stood up, determined, “Let’s get back to the search.”

“We don’t even know where else to go Colonel. We searched all up and down this backwater of a town.” Six stated.

“Could you tell me a little more about the Mara? I know it can possess and make you do horrible things um,” Peri admitted she was a little confused, “Is the Mara a one-man army thing or is it like an alien version of Scientology?”

“That is an apt comparison Peri.” The Colonel softly chuckled before it dawned on him, “The churches! We haven’t checked the churches yet! If the Mara is akin to a religious cult and if we assumed Five and Shooter went to the latter’s Tardis, what’s to say the Mara could’ve taken advantage of the gullibility of some religious Earth folk have?”

“He is right. We haven’t checked the churches Doctor, if anything there could be a clue there.” Peri suggested as she faced him, “And I can vouch for his point, some people here get can get sucked into a cult easily.”

The Doctor stood up with Peri close behind, “Brilliant, what are we waiting for then? No time to dilly dally, time is of the essence here.” The Doctor announced and the three ran back to the Colonel’s car shaped Tardis. 

The Colonel floored it as soon as he could and not ten minutes later they arrived at one of the churches in the small town. The fact that it was full of cars didn’t raise many flags, but when they walked inside and saw it was completely empty, some red flags were damn well raised. 

“This brings credence to your idea Colonel.” Six commented as they walked slowly through the small church. Not that he had any doubts but it wasn’t one of those preposterous leaps of faith ideas either so it had some sense enough to follow through on it.

“That’s Shooter’s handwriting!” The Colonel suddenly shouted, he felt his hearts skipped a beat when he saw the words ‘Help Us!’ written in what looked like black sharpie on the opposite wall behind the podium. He ran to get a closer look with Six and Peri behind him. 

“Shooter must’ve regained his psyche long enough to write it.” Six looked around for any clue that perhaps maybe his fifth self also wrote a similar plea somewhere. He proceeded to take notice of the papers on the wooden podium and walked up to get a closer look. Alas to his dismay there was nothing out of sorts in the sermon related papers. He uttered a swear word that only the Colonel understood, “Blast it all, nothing else.”

The Colonel took out his sonic device and scanned the wall before him. He took a moment to look at the information then at his phone to see the time, “It’s almost 2pm, this was written a little over 2 hours ago then.”

“There’s only one more place to check to confirm this harrowing theory that is shaping to be a reality.” Six stated before all three dashed out the front door. Before any of them really knew it, they were in an area outside of town where the Colonel and Shooter initially met Five.

Of course, the universe had to shit upon them, no signs of a blue police box to be had, “Oh god I failed him.” The Colonel despaired. How the hell were they going to find them quickly now? Shooter and Five can be anywhere in space or time.

Six immediately turned around to face him, it may come off as hypocritical as there were moments in the past where he held an anguished pity party for himself, but there was no room for defeatist talk like that in a time like this, “Whatever made you think that my boy? I shall have you know that giving up entirely would be failing him.”

“But how are we going to find them now huh?! Where do we even begin start, they have a fucking Tardis at their disposal Doctor! They can be anywhere and any time, who knows what part of history the Mara will change! It might be too long before we’re able to find them and then it’s too late to save them!” 

Six grabbed the Colonel’s shoulders in a firm grip and gave him a gentle shake, “Get a grip boy, snap out of it and calm down, it not as bleak as you’re making it be. There is still time to rescue them and I shall point out that I haven’t been affected yet so there is still very ample time I presume.”

“You don’t know how much time you have left before the Mara gets you too dude.”

“You’re right I don’t, but we have to make do with the time we have to put forth the rescue and the destruction of the Mara!” Six stated valiantly with a smile before he did a double take in his mind and put on a slightly offended tone, “Dude? Dude!? Did you just seriously referred to me with one of the laziest ways the English vernacular could ever produce in the way of slang to denote someone by way of a noun such as dude?”

“Yep, that’s what I call anyone who’s cool in my book.”

“Hmm I see, I wonder, where did you tell me before you lived on Earth mainly?”

“In America.”

“Ah America, that explains it. Americans have no respect for the correct and proper way to speak English and have instead horrendously butchered the language to a less sophisticated form not fit to be spoken in front of anyone really.” Six remarked. No secret he liked British English better.

“Hey!” The Colonel and Peri said in unison before the former phone went off. The insult was quickly forgotten as the younger time lord grabbed his phone. Definitely didn’t feel like the right time to Peri to ask what the device was exactly again. Something a few decades off from where she first met the Doctor.

“Hey Luke what’s up?” The Colonel put the phone up to his ear.

“Hello Jon, listen me and Dierks were on the road when we noticed something weird going on, I don’t know too much about it, only enough to realize it should not be on Earth at all.” Came the voice from the other end.

“What?” The Colonel felt dread in his gut that this could be linked to the whole Mara issue.

“The Mara down here in Kansas.” Luke replied in the earpiece and the Colonel immediately put it on speakerphone, “I think the Doctor may be possessed by it.”

Six stared at the Colonel wide eyed, “My fifth self!” He then quickly directed his voice into the phone, “This is the sixth version of the Doctor speaking, the one possessed is my younger self whom you may refer to as Five for the sake of simplicity.”

“Shooter been possessed too and not only that but the Mara seemed to have taken over a small group of people as well.” The Colonel added, “Where are you guys at exactly?”

“20 miles outside of Loretta.”

“Loretta?” That was in a way funny, made him briefly think of the legendary singer.

“Yeah I know, we can meet y’all just outside if that works?”

“That works dude.”

“Forgive me,” Six interjected, “May I ask whom I’m speaking too?” 

“Oh sorry, this is Luke Bryan.” Luke nicely supplied before the Colonel told him they’ll meet them shortly and proceeded to hung up.

“I guess maybe perhaps I got the notion of despair a little too early.” The Colonel added a slight imitation of the flair Six had earlier with a good natured chuckle before it was back to the seriousness required for the task at hand. They walked and got back into the Colonel’s Tardis, “Luke will be able to give us some extra help, he’s not from Earth and he has some powers that’ll be useful.”

“I can easily catch that from the way he talked earlier. Where is he from?” Six questioned.

“He was born here, but his people are from the Andromeda Galaxy. Specifically the planet Axienidronxite. Crystal based shape-shifting aliens.”

Six mulled over in thought for a second or two, “I haven’t been to that planet, but the name does sound familiar. I must’ve read about them in a book somewhere in my library. But crystal based sounds right and that is the ticket to shift lady luck into our favor. For that is one of the few weaknesses of the Mara! It can’t possess inorganic beings.”

“What powers can he do?” Peri asked as she settled into the backseat as the Colonel sped off towards where the Doctor left his Tardis.

“Control crystals and lava, withstand lava among maybe one or two other things,’ The Colonel started as he gave it some thought, “And since the Mara hates its own reflections and Luke can make crystal like mirrors...” He trailed off, he felt like the other two would get the implication.

Six smiled, maybe they will be able to rescue Five and Shooter before he got affected, “Oh excellent! This is brilliant! The hard part now will be to figure out how exactly we’re going to do this.”


	2. Chapter 2

Luke and Dierks were outside the city limits, the former leaned up on the hood of the car while Dierks stood and paced around casually. They were waiting for the arrival of two Tardises and had been for the past 10 minutes. Not enough to wonder what is up by any means, no way. They were patience as two musicians can be, though they were anxious for their arrival so they can get some plan of rescue hashed out. 

The familiar wheeze and groaned out sound of the Tardises came through the air and materialized shortly after, “Colonel!” Luke exclaimed with a happy smiled and bounced off the car to greet him. 

“Hey Colonel, and you must be the Doctor.” Dierks greeted the Colonel before he faced the Doctor.”

“It is indeed I, the Doctor as you say. Older version anyhow.”

Peri held out a hand from him to shake, “Perpugilliam, but people call me Peri.”

Dierks smiled, might as well turn on a little bit of the charm, “That’s a unique name for a pretty lady. I’m Dierks Bentley.”

Peri smiled and giggled, “Thanks, yours is nice too. Definitely a refresh from the ones you usually hear.” She lightly chuckled. 

“I can say the same about your name too. So uh, you’re from around here or are you an alien too? I mean I don’t want to assume.” Dierks chuckled lightly with a smile.

“Human. I was born here in America, and I’m taken just so you know.” Peri had a good gut feeling that Dierks was well on his way to preposition a date with her. At least a guy who casually flirted with her instead of just outright kidnap or decided right then and there that she is to marry him (or her, that has happened before) can count as a refresher as well.

Dierks blushed a little internally out of a mixture of awkwardness and embarrassment, “Oh, uh, who's the lucky guy?” 

“The Doctor.” Peri gestured towards the blond currently in conversation with Luke and the Colonel. Or was as he came over with the other two.

“Alright we have a bit of a plan formulated, not much so far admittedly but it is a start. From what Luke has informed, it appears the Mara compound seemed to be around long enough to establish their own headquarters of sorts. Yet to us, my younger self and Shooter only have been taken over for less than a day.”

“So history being changed right now?” Peri asked.

“Yes, Peri. Albeit on a much smaller scale than I would’ve expected.”

“Maybe the Mara is planning another way to take over.” The Colonel suggested.

“That would make sense, not like the previous plans worked from what I can remember. It was defeated three times, it can be defeated again. Let’s first ask around to confirm how much history has been changed. We can split up and go around this-” Six paused and briefly turned around to look at the town ahead, momentarily lost on the sufficient way to describe it, “As one may say, this one horse town.”

“Alright, we can meet back in about a half hour.” The Colonel ended up with Luke and Dierks on one side of the town while Peri and Six headed down the other way. 

“I didn’t ask earlier for obvious reasons, but what the Colonel used to talk to Luke, that was a future phone right?”

Six smiled a little pridefully for his ability to impart at least the basics of some of the things he showed to her and have it stick quickly enough, “Yes it was. It is an iPhone if you can recall. I don’t know which version but an iPhone nonetheless.” Six had a thought and took out his own phone to google Mara. 

For a few seconds, they walked in silence until Six stopped in his tracks, “Oh dear. Looks like there is a Wikipedia page already.”

“What?” Peri leaned over his arm to get a look of her own too. She noticed a picture of a familiar face below the first paragraph of text as Six scrolled up, “That looks like Five, and his eyes are red!”

“Hmm, another way tell if the Mara possessed someone. Guess who else of our possessed friends was granted the position of second in command?” Six asked rhetorically as he held the screen in front of Peri. She took the phone to get a closer look as Six took a sigh of unease, “It’s just as I feared, the timeline had to be tampered with.”

“This says this page was created a year ago.” Peri spoke up after she scrolled to the bottom of the page. She had noticed a date on the bottom in bold print and handed the phone back to Six.

“That feels about right.” Six declared and whatever he had to say was forgotten about before he noticed a young couple clad in t-shirts, jeans and a tattoo that served to put Six on edge, “Peri look at their arms.”

Peri looked at him then at the people he pointed too. She suddenly felt like she was under the gaze of a targeted sight, “It’s a snake tattoo. I’ve seen people with those before.”

“Not an Earth snake tattoo my dear Peri, rather it is the mark of the Mara.” The couple started to walk up and that was the moment Six took to grab Peri by the wrist, “We should run!” Six pulled Peri with him as he darted off across the street, he wanted to find the other three as soon as possible. This town may be full of the Mara possessed.

Meanwhile the Colonel, Luke and Dierks walked down through what seemed to be the only residential area in the whole place. Nothing but small houses and trailers, “Nothing looks out of the ordinary.” Luke mentioned after a good look around.

“You think it’ll be more obvious with Mara related flags or some shit.” Dierks commented

“History has changed though, even if it's not apparent. I can feel it.”

“Can you feel how much has changed?” Dierks asked, they turned around as the Colonel walked along behind them.

“Relatively small amount, like a year give or take.”

Dierks corroborate the information with a quick search, “Seems like it's been a year. There’s even Youtube videos.” Curiosity got the better of him and he clicked on one of the videos. Luke and the Colonel leaned on either side as the video showed a red eyed Five outside in what must be the compound. And it wasn’t just the thin blond hair Doctor in the shot either. A red eyed Shooter was next to them as they talked about the benefits and encouraged people to visit the Mara compound.

The Colonel felt sick to his stomach with guilt and pulled away from the screen, “I can’t watch this shit anymore, this is all my fault! This is all my goddamn fault, I failed as a Time Lord. Wait no, correction, I failed as a renegade Time Lord!”

“What makes you think that?” Luke questioned, they were worried for their friend and felt bad for him, well for everyone involved in this mess really.

“If I had noticed Five was possessed any earlier than Shooter will be right here! I don’t even know when Five got possessed! It had to be sometime between a little after meeting him and when we left 2 or 3 hours later, I got mostly good enough marks at the Academy and yet here we fucking are!” The Colonel vented out loud filled with emotion underneath his clear voice.

“The Mara in Five probably just hid well enough inside of him until it was transferred to Shooter.” Luke pointed out but the Colonel shook his head.

“No Luke, I should’ve been more attentive, Five said someone may have brought the Mara to Earth.”

“Then if that was the case, it was that person fault Jon.” Luke reassured him. He wanted to put a comforting hand on his shoulder but the Time Lord moved to kick a nearby wooden pickup fence before he turned back around.

“But who got him indirectly possessed huh?! Me!” The Colonel yelled as he got a little closer to Luke and Dierks, “I can’t face Jessi anymore, at least not for a while. She trusts me to keep her one and only son safe from any harm out there in time and space!”

“You didn’t know soon enough to do anything, I swear it ain’t your fault and Shooter ain’t gonna blame you and neither will his mom, I promise.”

“He is right you know Colonel.” Six and Peri have finally found the rest of their small group and caught up with up. Apparently in time to see him break off a piece of a fence and the ensued rant, “And it is hardly fair to put the blame onto yourself of something out of your control.”

The Colonel turned around to see Six and Peri. Peri took a moment to catch her breath as Six walked up while he replied, “That almost sounds like an oxymoron considering who we are Doctor. We aren’t gods by any means and I don’t want us to be, however, ain’t we the one goddamn race in the entire universe where everyone expects us to have enough control over time to prevent shit like this from happening?!”

“Nobody is perfect, not even us high and mighty Time Lords.” Six stated calmly with an air of experience around his words, there was a wisen tone to his voice underneath the light humor in the last part there that served to comfort him at the same time, “If we were, both of us would not have a reason to even think of leaving.” 

The Colonel crossed his arms and thought on his words for a moment. He had a very good point he thought to himself. He smiled and lightly chuckled, “I can’t fathom a timeline where I’m willing to live out my life on Gallifrey.”

“Neither do I. Listen my dear young boy, the only surefire way you can fail your friend here and anyone else connected with him is if you took off in your Tardis and left this alternative timeline to play out for the worse among humankind.”

“I sure as hell won’t do that.” The Colonel affirmed it with sincerity just as his phone vibrated. He took it out of his pocket to see a few urgent texts had appeared. He opened the text message app and read them, “It’s from Shooter, he’s pleading for help!” 

“Your friend is putting up quite the fight inside his psyche, I’m impressed.” Six smiled impressed, and it didn’t come out as an insult in any way. It was said more out of a relief. Even a year trapped with the creature, Shooter has not given up. And Five for that matter, he knew himself of course. He would not give up without a fight no matter what incarnation he was in.

The Colonel held out the screen for Six to see, a new message then just appeared but from Five instead of Shooter who echoed Shooter’s messages. Six took the moment to take the phone and type out a message to the both of them to keep up the fight against the Mara inside their psyche, “We haven’t got a moment to lose, we have to go into the past and nip this at the point when Five and Shooter arrived here initially.” Six stated as he led the way back to their Tardises.

_________________________

Two Tardises materialized in the same vicinity where Luke and Dierks found the Mara compound earlier, only there was nothing. Just a big field of nothing but green grass and another Tardis not too far off in the distance. The group stood outside, the sky an innocuous shade of blue and the air gave no hint to any chaos that might go on when a Time Lord incarnation and a human being possessed by a snake.

“They either could still be inside or most likely left.” Six stated as he looked down the road near them as they walked nearer to the other Tardis. Both the Colonel and Six somewhat expected the other possessed two to come out at any time.

“They might be in the next town over if they left. Probably the same place we were all just in a minute ago.” The Colonel added.

“That would make the most logical sense Colonel. We’ll check there if the Tardis here is empty.” Six finished just as they arrived at the front of the Tardis. So far nobody of the Mara possessed persuasion made any appearance. Which only just served to make them anxious about what could happen, the two Time Lords felt the most of it. 

“Shooter? Shooter are you in here dude? Five?” The Colonel cautiously walked in and yelled out their names. He noticed the console room was empty and there was a door on one side of the walls. He sprinted over and opened the door, “Shooter!”

“Five!” Six called out behind him. It was a good a choice as any to refer to his younger self, that or just simply the Doctor. If he called out with ‘My fifth self’ than that would’ve just sounded a little too weird, even for him. After he heard the sound of more silence, the Colonel slowly walked into the corridor. Peri followed after him while Six looked back at Luke and Dierks.

Luke, meanwhile, had laid a hand on the wall in the console room to see if he could sense anyone else inside. Six asked, “Anything?”

Luke sighed and shook his head a bit, “Nope. Other than us and infinite space, nothing. Shooter and Five ain’t here.”

Just then they heard the sudden shout from the corridor that anyone short of a pea sized brain and met him only once can tell belonged to the Colonel, “Holy shit!” The three that remained in the console stared in the direction for one second before they ran past the door and down a corner to find the Colonel and Peri in front of the library. Books were strewed all over the place and the shelves half bare. 

“It looks like a tornado went through here!” Peri exclaimed as they walked into the room.

“The Mara must have looked up information. I remember the Mara have done the same when I was first horribly and unwillingly possessed by it an incarnation ago.”

Dierks picked up a book opened and with the back face up. It was all about Earth and he discovered a few torn out pages, “This could be it. It was probably looking up ways to take over Earth.”

After a good second or two of thought, Six nodded, “That could very well be it Dierks. After all I can’t imagine it will be hard for the Mara to find an easy enough way to get into the minds of humans and mold them to believe a narrative of a group, such as say a cult, and be convinced enough to fully buy into it against any kind of reason and logic out there! Humans can be a hivemind of sheep like that.” 

“Why do I somehow feel like that is a veiled insult against ‘us dumb humans’.” Peri quipped and rolled her eyes with a light chuckle. She wasn’t really angry though, just used to how her boyfriend is. If anything, she is just mildly annoyed whenever he said stuff like that.

“I’m just merely stating the facts dear Perpugilliam.” Six smiled that gave the vibe no harm was meant.

The group walked back out of the Tardis with no problem. Now they knew for sure that their possessed friends had to be in the small town. They all climbed into the Colonel’s Tardis and drove off with nothing really eventful on the ride over. They parked in the middle of town and the first thing Six did when he got out was ask Luke to use his sensing powers.

“We certainly don’t want to take all day to find them and we’ve been very much lucky I haven’t been affected yet! Nary a mark on either one of my arms.”

“Well well, didn’t fancy running into two Time Lords on this pathetically weak planet.” A new voice from behind made Six turn around in surprise, turned out Luke didn’t need to do what he asked as his fifth self stood not too far off with his cricket bat in hand. He looked and noticed the telltale sign of the Mara on his arm.

Peri looked behind him and about jump in fright and moved a bit behind Six. There were one too many snakes behind Five, “He’s got snakes,” She gasped.

“Dude got a snake army.” Dierks backed a few steps, one or two sure he can handle enough to give them a wide enough berth to walk around, but more? In that case, the proper reaction would be to get the fuck away.

“Seems like an army of them, is this your plan Mara? Scaring the populace into submission?” Six retorted with his hands on his hips, “Excuse me for thinking that you were any more subtle this time around considering.” You pulled the same routine the last time back on Manussa was part of the sentence he refrained from saying. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or not to let the Mara inside Five on the fact that he was Five’s successor. Although it would be easy to connect the dots as Peri did travel with his younger self in the past.

Five smiled gleefully, his eyes unsurprisingly glowed red “Part of it. Do you realize how easy it is to take over the minds of humans? Especially those more, shall we say, fervently inclined. With the right group of people under your control, you can spread an idea, spread fear among humankind faster than you can ever imagine.” He chuckled with a big smile, his voice deeper than normal due to the Mara within.

Something dawned inside the Colonel’s mind. He had forgotten about the eerily empty church from earlier until now, “So that’s how you’re doing it? You’re using the churchgoers from Kentucky to help spread your shit around ain’t you?”

Five faced him and gave him a satisfied smile that unsettled him, “Ding ding, they are going around as we speak.” He chuckled than paused for a second as if he mulled something over, “You know it makes sense why these pitiful humans need not one, but two Time Lords to protect them. Poor primitives, it’s not even common knowledge yet that aliens exist among humankind. Makes it easy don’t you think to slip in pretty much unnoticed? Already helps that some humans are already naturally predisposed to the side of evil.”

“You shall be defeated once more, Mara. You don’t belong on Earth or any other planet for that matter.” Six replied, still firm in his stance. If he could touch his fifth self, he could try and mind link up with him and try to cast the Mara out of his psyche, but the caveat was the added risk of infection and he didn’t want that.

“Oh, why ever not? I don’t know why I didn’t try this sooner. Humans are so susceptible to the whims of chaos. All you have to do is suggest something long enough and enough humans will start to believe whatever you say no matter what you tell them.” Five said with a chuckle just as he noticed Peri who was still behind Six. A hint of recognition glossed over his eyes and he grinned even bigger, “Ah why there’s a face I haven’t seen in a long while! Miss Perpugilliam Brown, still hiding behind someone like a coward as ever. It’s just as I remember, you were always a weak and spineless little girl.”

Six shot him a glare and a defiant warning as he moved protectively in front of Peri, “You lay a hand on her and I shall not hesitate for one iota of a second to feel the effects of hitting a previous version of myself.”

“Wait, previous version?” Five caught on to that one small part of what he said, he seemed to be stuck on it for a good long few seconds before he began to laugh joyously with a big smile, “Oh this is too delicious. What future incarnation are you? Six? Seven? 12? Doesn’t matter. You do realize what this means don’t you?” He smiled knowingly.

“Where’s Shooter?!” The Colonel suddenly demanded, he immediately stood next to Six unable to take it any longer. It ate him up inside that he didn’t know where Shooter was or even if he was ok. He wanted so much to rescue his friend and protect him from any more harm the Mara could do.

“Shooter? Oh right, Shooter, my loyal second in command you mean? Don’t worry he is more than ok, obedient too, why he is spreading the word of the Mara as we speak in this rubbish excuse for a town.”

“You hurt him and I will fucking inadvertently by proxy make the Doctor's future self here feel like he’s been hit by a damn truck!”

It only just infuriated him, and Six as well, that the Mara inside Five didn’t seem to be fazed at all by their threats. Instead, he stood his ground and laughed evilly, as he if he taunted them to try some form of an attack on him. The Colonel just growled and all rationally took a vacation as he lashed out and balled his fist to make a punch squarely directed at the snake inside as hard as he can. 

But Five reacted fast and swung his cricket bat. Six yelled out a horrified ‘No!’ and immediately moved to catch the Colonel in his arms as he was brought to his knees. He felt the younger time lord started to fall into a healing trance as he held him close protectively as if they were related. 

Five proceeded to bend down to be on the level with his future self and sneered, “I could possess you and your lot right now, but that won’t be too much fun don’t you think? You’re my future which, as you know, means we’re the same person. I think it’ll be more fun to let the Mara possession catch up to you and then watch helplessly as your little group effort to defeat me fall apart.” Five stood up, “Can’t be too long now. I look forward to meeting you all again as children of the Mara.” Five walked away and with that, the snakes seemed to follow him. Six stayed in his position frozen for a few seconds, stuck on what just happened before he came to and stood up.

“We have to get back to my Tardis!”


	3. Chapter 3

“Will he be alright Doctor? Is he gonna regenerate” Peri asked worried as she looked at the Colonel in his arms then at Six.

“No Peri he is simply entering a state of deep healing us Time Lords are able to do. Therefore he’ll be in a coma for as long as his body needs to recover from the trauma.”

“Do you know long?” Dierks asked and Six shook his head.

“When he wakes back up then we’ll know how long.” 

The next several minutes seemed like a blur. Before they knew it, they were in Six’s Tardis and Six had just put the Colonel in one of the bedrooms. Right now the Colonel’s body felt cold to the touch. Peri pulled up the sheets to cover him just as Six then made a terrified cry as he suddenly brought his hands to his head, “Ahh its just as I feared, I think it’s happening!” Six closed his eyes briefly as he backed away.

“I can feel it catching up to me ah! I have to lock myself up post haste!” Six continued as he looked at Peri with loving blue eyes, “I despair at the thought of the Mara hurting my dear sweet, and precious flower miss Perpugilliam Brown.” Six finished before he abruptly ran out of the room.”

“Doctor?!” Luke ran after him followed by Dierks and Peri. They all rounded a corner to see Six ran into a room and shut the door after he had locked it from the outside.

“You all will have to rescue them without me!” Six stated from the other side, he sounded positively frightened, “Oh dear I believe I just saw a flash of the mark on my arm. Yes, me being locked up here is undoubtedly the best precaution. Come get me when Five and Shooter are released from the grips of the Mara!”

“Will do Doctor.” Luke shouted back before he turned back to Dierks and Peri, his hand on the back of his neck for a second. He felt at a lost on what to do next, he reckoned the other two did as well. He did felt expectant eyes on him though after a second or two, “Why y’all looking at me? I don’t know any more about a solution than y’all do.”

“I sure as hell don’t know how we’re gonna rescue them.” Dierks mentioned with his arms crossed.

Peri admittedly felt more nervous than when the Doctor was out here, but in a pleasant surprise to herself, she stayed calm enough, “Why don’t we say what we know already and go from there I guess.”

“Alright. Well, the fate of the Earth is now in the hands of two unlikely country singers and you.” Dierks didn’t sound too confident of their chances of an attempt that doesn’t end with them all possessed. That would be bad if the Mara found someway to possess someone like Luke.

“One of them a 6000 year old fart.” Luke self deprecatingly quipped, but still went on, “But a 6000 year old fart that the Mara can’t possess so we have the upper hand.”

“More like you do. Me and Peri are still sitting ducks.” Dierks pointed out.

“Hold on, didn’t the Doctor say the Mara hates its own reflection earlier?” Peri asked and Luke’s face lit up. He had forgotten the Doctor made that important little fact.

“You know I believe he did! We can trap Shooter and Five in a dome made of obsidian, it should be reflective enough to work!” Luke said in a moment of inspiration. He proceeded to put his arms around both Dierks and Peri and flashed that bright, toothy smile of his. But not before he decided to create a wall of obsidian in front of the door for added insurance, “I think I may have something of a plan.”

______________________________

Dierks slowly drove the car shaped Tardis through the streets, he and Peri carefully searched for any unusual amount of snakes. They figured in this case when there are snakes around, then Five and Shooter wouldn’t be too far behind. They weren’t having any luck so far though. 

“How are we even going to lure them 20 miles that way?” Peri gestured behind her.

“That I have no clue.” Dierks confessed, “I’m kinda glad we haven’t run into any snakes, they’ll just make a little too nervous to think of a good way to do this if I’m honest.”

“I’m with you on that.”

“What would the Doctor do?” Dierks stopped at a red light and looked at his passenger.

Peri shrugged, “Probably try and convince them to follow him. If nothing else works probably either knock them out or tie them up, then drag them out to where Luke is.”

“That may be hard to do.” Dierks drove on and rounded a corner, “I’m a singer of words, not a speaker of words.”

“You’re speaking now.” Peri laughed lightly, she knew what he meant. He wasn’t a master persuader and neither was she really He parked in front of a couple of storefronts, one was a small restaurant and the other an antique store. Five and Shooter weren’t outside, but Dierks did notice a curious thing. He and Peri got out and she just went where Dierks went, which was to a chair that had Five’s coat at one of the tables outside.

“That’s Five’s jacket. Must’ve left it behind on accident.” Peri commented and she noticed Dierks had a big grin on his face. A big shit eating one at that as inspiration came to him.

“It’s, it’s completely crazy as hell but it might crazy enough to work...” Dierks trailed off as he grabbed the beige coat and put it on. Surprisingly it fit rather comfortable, though definitely not his style. And who'd want to walk out in public with a piece of vegetable on said coat?

“Dierks what are you doing?!” Peri looked at him then at the new people that appeared there way down the sidewalk. This time Shooter was by Five’s side.

Dierks glanced at her for a split second before back directly towards the blond now clad in suspenders with question marks as decoration, rolled up dress shirts and trousers and Shooter in jeans in a buttoned black shirt, “The only way a good old country boy like me knows how to do in a situation like this Peri.” Dierks replied before he yelled towards Five with an exaggerated accent to boot, “Hey finder keepers! That the rule of the game in these here backwater parts of the good ol’ US of A! Just reckoned I let y’all know!” 

Peri cottoned on to what his plan was. It amounted to pretty much rile them up enough to follow them, “Yeah, I don’t know why I’ve seen this before?! Dierks here pulls off the vegetable look better than you Doctor!” She shouted. A part of her felt exhilarated alongside a rational voice that told her this was a bad way to go about this. Still, if it worked, it worked. 

Dierks grabbed the celery off the label and took a big bite out of it which just incensed Five more, “Hmm handy place to keep a snack even! I was feeling pretty damn hungry. What a practical coat this is ain’t it Peri?” He finished with a laugh as he and Peri stood their ground for a second. The second Five and Shooter started to march their way, Dierks turned to push Peri back to the car, “Get in the car!”

Peri quickly ran and opened the door to get in while Dierks moved to jump on the hood and slide across before he got into the driver’s seat, “Why did you do that for?” She asked.

“Always wanted to hood slide like Bo Duke!” Dierks happily exclaimed before he turned the car on. He paused for a moment then added out loud, “Or was it Luke Duke? Hmm, I’ll have to binge watch the show again sometime when I can.”

“You mean the character in Dukes of Hazzard?” Now that was a reference she understood as that was definitely from her time. She just wasn’t sure if it ended or kept going, last she knew it had 6 or so seasons. Most likely ended if she had to guess, but she can find out for sure later. She remembered liking it enough as a kid, a bit goofy but that was part of the show.

“Yep!” Dierks said happily before he yelled out towards the other two, “Hey you Mara fanatics, betcha can’t us!” He laughed before he jammed the gas pedal in reverse. Five and Shooter went to a nearby parked car to steal. Five quickly put the car into drive to go after them.

“Well, you got them to follow us.” Peri looked over her shoulder and saw their two targets in the stolen white car hot on their tails. Dierks had peeled right on out of town, even ran through a couple of stop lights. Only thing was they headed in the wrong directions of where they needed to go. Rather perpendicular to the right direction. Maybe this was good in a way, the Mara in Five and Shooter won’t figure out what they are doing as fast.

“Woo, yeah! You know what we’re missing Peri? Mood music.” Dierks explained with a smile that told her he was having fun with this. He turned on the radio to find an appropriate radio station and coincidentally enough a familiar song came out of the classic country radio station. Or that is, it was a tune familiar to Dierks.

Who also started to sing along, “Just the good ol’ boys, never meaning no harm, beats all you ever saw, been in trouble with the law since the days they was born…” Dierks sang as loud as he could, and kept it up right until they felt the other car hit the end of the car they were in. It jostled the country singer a little, but enough to get him out of the singing mood.

“Drive faster Dierks!”

“Just what I was thinking.” He echoed her suggestion and pushed the pedal down to the limit. The boy inside of him wished there was a ramp or hill that they jump the car off of just like in the show. Yes he knew the car they were in was a Tardis so thus may not be easy to damage as regular cars are, but he felt like it had fewer risks involved if they didn’t emulate Bo and Luke Duke even further. Plus where the hell would they find a hill quick enough to do it in paper-thin Kansas anyways.

Eventually, the white car managed to get almost completely alongside theirs on the side of the highway. Thank fucking god there weren’t any other cars that came down in the opposite direction. Five pulled down his window and a voice that was not of the Doctor came out deep, but bold, “You insolent primitives! You shall be our first victims to the great Mara for what you’ve done!”

“Bite us blondie!” Dierks yelled with a big laugh. In response to the vulgar suggestion, Five hit the side of the car off a sudden, “Shit! Two can play that game!” Dierks declared to no one in particular as he swerved the car to hit the other back. 

Five was able to keep control of the car, “Thief!” Five yelled, “No one dares steal from the Mara!

Peri exaggeratedly rolled her eyes as she faced Five over her shoulder. They were still in the lead more or less which was a good thing, “It’s not my fault Dierks pulls it off better than you. The celery thing I mean.” 

“My fans are gonna love the new look! It’ll be the talk of Nashville mark my words!” Dierks yelled out before he turned up the radio. 

“Turn that infernal music off!” The Mara in Five demanded. Right now both cars were side by side and Peri scooted closer to Dierks to eliminate any chance of Five to grab her.

Dierks put on a mock scandalized look and faced Peri with exaggerated confusion loud enough for Five and Shooter to hear, “Oh my god I never thought in a million years I would encounter someone who didn’t like Hank Williams?! Of all the time I have spent on this planet that we exist in, I have never once met someone who didn’t like Hank Williams Perpur-Per-”

“Perpugilliam.”

“-who didn’t like Hank Williams Perpugilliam!” 

“All music should be sung to serve and praise the Great One in all of his glory! Five replied, his red eyes glowed an even deeper shade of red.

“That’s no fun I gotta tell y’all! Besides who want to listen to songs about a dumb snake anyway?” Dierks yelled over his shoulder and noticed Five was about to hit the car again so he decided to make a right onto a nearby recently planted corn field to minimize any damage. It didn’t shake them off their tail, however, but it did serve to put a little bit of space between the two cars, “Damn I feel like I’m high on drugs right now haha!”

“You rubbing some of it off on me then.” Peri admitted with a laugh. She looked over once again as Dierks paid attention to the view ahead as they plowed on through the cornfield which eventually turned into a wheat field.

“I’m just glad they haven’t gotten any guns.”

“Yeah, keep an eye back there just in case they do, and let me know if shoot at us or something.”

“I think they may try and tail us again.” Peri alerted him when she noticed the other car getting a little nearer a couple of minutes later. Dierks swerved a little to the right, enough to make them lose momentum to hit the bumper but not enough throw them off. 

Soon enough in what felt like forever Dierks and Peri finally noticed Luke in the distance and the other two Tardises nearby. Finally. He leaned over the door and called out towards Luke with a big casual laugh, “Hey Crystal you’re up!” He passed him and immediately turned the car a hard left and skidded to a stop as bits of dirt and dust were kicked up. Meanwhile Luke enclosed himself and the other car with a big obsidian dome. 

Dierks and Peri took a moment or two to catch their breath and wind down from the adrenaline as they kept their eyes on the black dome before them. They were silent for a few seconds before they got out of the car, “Do you think it’ll work?”

Peri wasn’t sure, “I don’t know, I just hope it does.” 

“Luke pretty damn good at controlling that kind of stuff. And lava too, he stole some once from Hawaii cause of that power. Course that was centuries and centuries ago, and it was only once according to him but still.” 

Peri lightly chuckled, “Wow.”

“Yeah, he said he was young and dumb at the time.” Dierks added with a friendly smile.

The answer to their earlier question came soon enough in the form of a hole that opened and Five, with Shooter in his arms, ran a few feet before he crashed down onto the ground. The hole closed back up as Dierks and Peri immediately ran over.

“Are you guys alright?!” It was a big relief to see that there was no snake tattoo anymore. Five and Shooter are back to normal, and by proxy, so was Six.

Five groaned and closed his eyes for a second before he opened them up again. He felt a splitting headache that faded away little by little since now the snake was gone. He surmised it was the same for Shooter. He pushed himself up on one arm and the first thing he noticed was his jacket still on Dierks. That did it to bring the memories of the recent car chase while the Mara was still loose in their minds in general.

“That-that was a pretty ingenious way to get us out here.” He admitted as he faced Dierks.

“What I could think of on the spot.” Dierks answered as Shooter pulled himself into the seated position, “Sorry I ate your celery.”

“Don’t worry about it. It worked, that what matters. Time is righting itself.” Five mentioned out loud as he stood and helped Shooter up as well in the process. Meanwhile, Dierks caught a glimpse of the dome which disappeared, Luke appeared out of thin air a second later and looked worryingly like he was about to fall down.

“Luke? Luther!” Dierks called out before he ran over just in time to catch him,

“That took quite a bit out of me. I need to get rid of that wall in the Tardis and get the Doctor out.”

Dierks hoisted one arm of Luke’s around his shoulder and held him up with his other hand, “I’ll help you, let’s go.”

Shooter’s mind was on one thing at the moment, he looked around frantically before he set his eyes on Peri, “Jon? Jon?! Colonel! He ain’t here, where is he?! where’s the Colonel?!”

Ok, this was awkward Peri suddenly felt as Shooter waiting for an answer with bated breath, “Umm…” 

Five’s face blanched as he had a horrible realization. He gripped Shooter’s shoulder as a means to keep him steady on his feet, “Peri, please, please tell me he didn’t regenerate?” He felt like he wanted to throw up then and there.

“He hasn’t. He is in a healing coma in the Doctor’s, err, uhh my boyfriend’s Tardis.” She replied with lack of anything better to refer to his older version as she pointed to Six’s Tardis and the two suddenly made a beeline. Peri ran after them and made it in time just as Six came into the console room to grab his multicolored coat.

“Five and Shooter are in the Colonel’s room as we speak. They are a mess as one would expect after a long period of time with the Mara in their psyche. Luke is getting refreshments suited for his kind in the kitchen and Dierks is with him.”

“If you had to guess, how long does a Time Lord take to heal from a blow to the head?” Peri still wondered on the issue.

“It depends, in our case perhaps 2 months at the most is my educated guess.” Six said as they heard soft footsteps from behind.

“I think it might be best if Shooter spends those two months with me.” Five started as he walked in with Shooter in tow. He now had his own coat back on, “For moral support and all that. After all, I have the most experience being possessed by the Mara.” He bitterly chuckled. 

“Shall we have the Colonel rest in one of your spare rooms then just so he’ll be there when he comes out of it? For Shooter’s sake and his.” Six explained his question, and Five shook his head a bit.

“Might be too much right now, too painful a reminder of everything that happened.”

“That is understandable I suppose. I will give you a call when the Colonel wakes up.”

Shooter just felt too numb from everything that had happened to say much of anything, “Is Jon gonna be alright?” His voice heavy with concern and emotion as he faced Six.

“He will be once he wakes up. When that’ll be I am not quite certain.” Six honestly replied. He felt bad for the two in front of them and the Colonel.

________________________________________

Five laid awake in his bed, the 4th day in a row where he didn’t really get much sleep since the whole Mara incident. Neither did Shooter really, but who was he to tell him to get some rest. Well yes, he had to get some rest to function, after all he was human. But a good part of him would’ve felt like a hypocrite, so whenever he brought it up came out more of a suggestion than an order. Right now can hear the mechanical clack of the keys that came in through the open door of the computer room nearby. He’d been creating some kind of text game.

Five had put the Tardis to roam the vortex for now while they took the time to rest or really do anything to distract themselves from any nightmares. They didn’t really felt like doing much of anything at the moment. Which no one can blame them. He got up and walked slowly over to the room, he leaned on the door frame as he peered into the mostly darkened room, “What kind of game is it?

“I don’t know to be honest. A fucking mess, that I know.”

“A mess? Interesting way to describe it. As I recall games tend to have a plot and coherency in its storyline.”

“Well this one ain’t. If I don’t keep working then the nightmares will come.” Shooter simply said, he didn’t take his eyes off the screen but he can hear Five come up and leaned on the table, “If I can get by without sleep, it’ll be a godsend.”

“You have to rest eventually. Both of us really.” Five amended.

Shooter looked up from the screen towards the Time Lord, “If I don’t then I won’t dream a scenario where Jon, who is my best friend in the damn universe, doesn’t even realize I was possessed in the first fucking place and left for Planet What the Fuck Ever. And it just keeps worse every night.”

“Sounds like your dreams are underestimating the intelligence of a Time Lord.” Five made a light attempt of humor. It seemed to work as Shooter slightly smiled in response.

“Its irrational I know, but dreams never make any damn sense in the first place.” Shooter continued on with the game.

“Some do, some don’t.”

“Objectively I know Jon would have noticed quickly. The most recent nightmare had no one around us realizing that we were possessed. Everyone thought that’s how we really were and no one saved us. We became permanently possessed.”

Five felt a lump at the back of his throat as he listened to Shooter continued, “My head is a mess." That he can empathize in a ‘too close to home’ way.

“Same. It doesn’t help much at all either that I was the cause of your friend’s healing coma.” Five said softly, he felt there were no words to rightly express the guilt that caused, the memory played itself over every so often like a vivid movie. He wanted to make it up to the Colonel.

“I don’t even want to go back to Earth until we get that call.” Shooter said out loud and Five looked at him curiously.

“Shooter what we remembered doing basically never happened anymore because history was made right when the Mara was destroyed. My future self and his group came at exactly the right point in time save us without much collateral damage.”

Shooter turned around to face him, “But that’s the damn problem Doctor! We still remember while no one else does. Everyone else gets to go on their merry little way while we’re stuck with the whole Mara shit. No one remembers that we created a Youtube channel with a hell of a lot of subscribers and views espousing chaotic bullshit! No one will remember that we somehow build up a damn Mara religious compound in the middle of nowhere! Have you forgotten that under the Mara we had a goddamn podcast show?! You were the host and I was the co-host if you can recall. And a worryingly amount of listeners.”

Five paused then nodded and signed dejectedly. The sooner to not remember it as vividly, the better, “I do.”

“We’ll remember all this shit for the rest of our lives! Or at least a good fucking while.” There was a sound of resignation in his voice as Five heard the sounds of the keyboard start up again.

‘I see your point.” Five had his hands in his pockets as he pushed himself off and faced Shooter.

“I’m not ready to go back, at least not to the 21st century. I don’t want to be reminded of the damn Mara so soon. You feel me?”

“It would do both of us some good to avoid that time period for the time being I imagine. We should definitely try and get some rest, but I propose a different setting.” Five offered as a compromise.

“What?” Shooter stopped and got up this time.

Five smiled, “The Eye of Orion. The most tranquil, relaxing place in the universe! It’ll be perfect for us after all we went through. We’ll camp there for a day and then we’ll go from there. Explore time and space until my future self calls with the news the Colonel has come out of his healing trance.” He explained as he put an arm around Shooter and led him out towards the console room.

“That sounds fair, I feel like I’d need the rest. But that ain’t the same as wanting sleep.”

“I know, but the fact remains. We need it.”

“Isn’t there something Time Lords can do to block dreams or…shit I can’t remember exactly right now. Jon told me y’all can do something like that before.” Shooter felt exhausted from the past few restless nights and now that Five had mentioned it earlier and suggested a day to rest, he felt it catching up to him. He was just tired of the nightmares.

The two made it to the console and Five stopped to face Shooter, “Memories. We can block memories.” Five answered, “Tell you what, dreams are merely just your mind, your subconsciousness dealing with all the emotions tied to certain things you have experienced. Why don’t I block the more horrid Mara related memories and see if that helps take away your nightmares.”

“I’m down with that. Maybe you can do it on yourself too, You seemed to be having as bad a nightmare as I am.” Shooter observed with his best educated guess, he wasn’t the only one that woke up with a yell, twice he had heard Five in the middle of the night

“I could, yes.” Five said as he leaned on the console for a second before he set up the coordinates at a leisurely pace.

Shooter stood at his spot as he watched Five for a minute in silence, “I can go get the tent stuff.”

“Should be the first door on your right after you walk down and take a left.” Five stated and Shooter nodded before he walked off.

______________________________

It was 2 months later Peri and Six were having a day off in the Tardis from the usual exploration that they usually do. The latter was busy with various repairs around the ship while she decided to work on her self taught drum lessons. She went over the basics, the music intermingled with the various alien cuss words Six yelled from somewhere nearby by. He currently was in the hallway with an open panel.

“Oh, bloody hell!” Six finished the latest string of words with as various buzzes and crackling came afterward. Peri moved into one of the more intermediate solos she got from a book somewhere in the Tardis and soon made it into her own little solo. She just goes with the flow on the percussion instrument and even kept it in tune with the beat of the noises she heard from down the hall.

Both of them were lost in their own world so they weren’t really there when the Colonel started to awaken from the healing coma. He softly groaned as he had to blink a few times for his vision to clear. It felt like he’d been hit by a steam train. He took in his surroundings and noted his skin felt wet, as if he had been frozen. Shit, he must’ve been in a healing trance. How the fuck long was he out? 

He sat up on the edge of the bed and realized he can hear drums down the hallway, did this meant the day was saved so to speak. Hopefully. The last thing he remembered before now was the Mara possessed Five in that small town. Shit, he obviously gotten hit with the cricket bat. And which version of the Doctor’s Tardis was he in? By the exaggerated and bellowed sound that came randomly down the hall as he slowly made his way to the door, it led him to figure out that this was indeed Six’s ship. 

Six felt frustrated when he noticed he was missing a component so uttered a string of more exaggerated alien curses under his breath before he stormed off. But all of that melted away when he saw the Colonel just outside the room. His face brightened as he ran over and grabbed him happily by the arms briefly due to excitement, “Colonel! My boy I am very happy to see you finally awake!”

“Hey Doctor, me too.” The Colonel chuckled as Six yelled down the hallway.

“Miss Peri do please pause your status in your fantasy as the most legendary drummer in the universe and come out! Our friend has awakened!”

“Fantasy?” Peri remarked as she popped out of the door not too long after. She walked up and gave Six a look, “Really Doctor?”

Six looked at her with an honest face, “Well you do tend to get a bit carried away sometimes when you work on your drumming techniques. Not that I don’t love hearing you play darling. But some of your solos still needs work as some of the time it lacks creativity. And you know I am just merely suggesting to practice more. Didn’t you yourself say that you felt like you were still somewhat of a beginner?” Six amended it with a question when he noticed Peri gave him a bit of a glare.

“I thought it was pretty damn good.” The Colonel compliment with a smile, “So how long was I out?”

“2 months give or take a day or two. Shooter is with my younger self as me and him felt he would be best to give Shooter the help he needs.” Six explained and the Colonel nodded. That sounded like a good idea.

“So that explains the lack of Shooter. That also means they’ve been rid of the Mara.” That was great to hear.

“Yes. Thanks to your friends Luke and Dierks. And Peri of course.” Six smiled as he briefly gave Peri a loved filled look, “Anyways I must give celery boy a call so he can bring Shooter over.”

The three walked over to the console room and Six put in the call to his fifth self, “Is my Tardis with Luke and Dierks to hold on it for me or-”

“We tethered it to mine.” Six answered and the Colonel was satisfied with that answer. 

They all ended up agreeing to just meet somewhere in rural England (both Doctor’s choice and no one else gave a shit. Just anywhere with no one else around really). The doors opened and they walked out as Five and Shooter did from the other police box.

“Jon!” Shooter yelled with a big smile and ran over to give him a big hug. 

“Shooter! It’s great to see you.” The Colonel reciprocated the hug back. They were like that for a good few seconds before they broke apart, “So how you’re feeling? I can’t imagine the first few nights being easy after all that shit.”

“It was at first. For both of us but going on a few adventures helped a lot. It distracted us enough from everything and the nightmares became easier to deal with.”

“That’s good to hear. But don’t hesitate to tell me if they do, I’m here to help dude.”

“I know. I’m just glad you’re ok. Five felt really guilty about the whole healing coma thing so he got a gift for you as an act of forgiveness that I think you’re gonna really love.”

The Colonel felt flattered, but he really didn’t have to do it. He knew Five wasn’t in his right mind, “Really?”

“Yeah, you should close your eyes dude. You’re gonna freak the fuck out.”

Peri peered inside Five’s Tardis and noticed him rolling out the gift in the console room, “Wow.” She said calmly and impressed as she and Six walked in before Shooter led the Colonel in. 

It was a bona fide high tech jukebox and the Colonel’s grin couldn’t be bigger, “Holy shit!” He exclaimed happily surprised and ran up to get a closer look, “Oh man it looks exactly like the old jukeboxes in the 50s and 60s and yet…” The Colonel paused as he looked at the high tech buttons and digital screen encased in an otherwise vintage look, “It looks like it was made in the music vintage revival scene of the 7140s!”

“That when we bought it.” Five stated. Inside he felt like his offer of forgiveness was accepted.

“Dude awesome! Thank you very much!” The Colonel felt very much appreciative of his gift and he gave him a small friendly hug of gratitude, “You really didn’t have to do it Doctor.”

“I know but it’s the least I can after what I did. I still very much incredibly apologize, I know I wasn’t in my right mind but it was still...me in a way-”

“That was under involuntary control dude, I don’t hold it against you.” The Colonel pointed out with a reassured smile that everything was ok, and the Doctor took a moment before he nodded. 

“Right. Well, I also tweaked the jukebox a bit myself to be hooked into the Tardis sound system.” Five beckoned the Colonel to the back to show him. Meanwhile, Peri browsed through the selection on the screen, there was a wide variety of playlists.

Shooter pointed to a couple of playlists, “That’s the one I made for Jon, and that one I created to me obviously. Not much is listed in them yet cause most of our music is in his Tardis, but it’s a start.”

Peri looked up at Six, “It would be cool to have a jukebox for the heck of it.”

Six pondered for a second or two, “I suppose it would, there are better and more high tech music players, but I can see the appeal.”

15 minutes later give or take Shooter and the Colonel was outside with said jukebox in front of the latter’s Tardis. They had just waved goodbye to the two Doctors and Peri. Shooter turned away from the spot where the other Tardises were a second ago and looked between the jukebox and the Colonel’s Tardis, “Oh shit we obviously can’t get this thing inside.”

“Chameleon circuit Shooter!” The Colonel laughed happily, he was still giddy about the present as he bounced off to the other side of the car and disappeared down the steps. Not too long later his Tardis changed shaped into something familiar.

Shooter gave the Colonel a look when he came back out of the doors, “What is it with you Time Lords and police blue boxes.” He laughed lightly with an amused smile before they hauled in the newly acquired jukebox.


End file.
